Dubai: Abu Dhabi's Technology Innovation Institute and Nvidia have launched a joint research lab in the United Arab Emirates that will focus on developing next-generation AI models and robotics platforms, TII said on Monday. The joint research hub is the first Nvidia AI Technology Center in the Middle East, TII said in a statement, combining its multidisciplinary research with the U.S. company's AI models and computing power, which are fuelling a global artificial intelligence boom. TII is the applied research arm of the Advanced Technology Research Council, an Abu Dhabi government entity that is part of the UAE's efforts to become a global AI player. During a Gulf visit by U.S. President Donald Trump in May, the UAE signed a multi-billion dollar deal to build one of the world's largest data centre hubs in Abu Dhabi with U.S. technology, including the most advanced Nvidia chips. TII has worked closely with the U.S. company for some time, Aaraj said, adding that TII has been using Nvidia chips to train its own language models.